1 online resource (xv, 329 pages

In 1985, Raphael Cohen-Almagor participated in an Israeli demonstration against Rabbi Meir Kahane, a religious, quasi-fascist propagandist who had been elected to the Israeli parliament the preceding year. As the demonstration became a confrontation - people screamed, shouted, and whistled to prevent Kahane from speaking - Cohen-Almagor felt increasing discomfort. In the name of democracy, the protesters were using the same tactics against Kahane that Kahane would use against his own opposition. Advocates of free speech were denying Kahane free speech. The paradox was the impetus behind this work, which proposes to overcome what Cohen-Almagor calls the "catch" of democracy, the idea that the principles that underlie any political system might also bring about its destruction. Building on the framework of John Stuart Mill and other liberal theorists, Cohen-Almagor addresses the delicate issue of which boundaries should be set to safeguard democracy. He contends that restrictions of liberty and tolerance may be prescribed when there are threats of immediate violence against individuals or groups, or when the intent of a threat is to inflict psychological damage in circumstances when the target group is forced to be exposed to the threat. In this connection he reviews the ruling of the Illinois Supreme Court that permitted American Nazis to hold a demonstration in Skokie, and he argues that the decision was wrong. The second part of the book explores the struggle of the Israeli political system against the Kahanist racist phenomenon as it has developed in the last two decades. Cohen-Almagor's perspective differs from that of philosophers who focus particularly on practical considerations. "My view is that the fundamental question is ethical rather than practical," he writes. "I argue that, as a matter of moral principle, violent parties that act to destroy democracy or the state should not be allowed to run for parliament." This work, both a theoretical contribution and a discussion of a major current political problem, will be valuable to political scientists, philosophers, legal scholars, and anyone interested in First Amendment issues

Revision of the author's thesis

Includes bibliographical references (pages 307-318) and indexes

Foreword / Geoffrey Marshall -- pt. 1. Theory: Boundaries of Liberty and Tolerance. Ch. 1. Tolerance and Liberty: General Insight. The Duty to Be Tolerant, the Right to Be Tolerated. Liberty and Autonomy. Ch. 2. The Scope and Characterizations of Tolerance. Reasons for Tolerance. Popper's Paradox of Tolerance and Its Modification. Latent and Manifest Tolerance. Principled and Tactical Compromise. Ch. 3. Why Tolerate? The Respect for Others Argument. Preliminaries. The Respect for Others Argument. Between Neutrality and Perfectionism. Ch. 4. The Respect for Others Argument and Cultural Norms. The Dilemma. Not Tolerating the Intolerant: A Radical View. Ch. 5. Freedom of Expression. Words: Keys of Thought and Triggers of Action. Grounds for Special Status. The Harm Principle. Ch. 6. Why Tolerate? The Millian Truth Principle. Preliminaries. The Millian Truth Principle. Ch. 7. Boundaries of Freedom of Expression. The Millian Arguments. The Offense Principle

Ch. 8. Applying the Offense Principle: The Skokie Controversy. Background. The Reasonable Avoidability Standard. Psychological Offense, Morally on a Par with Physical Harm -- pt. 2. Application: Democracy on the Defensive -- Israel's Reaction to the Kahanist Phenomenon. Ch. 9. The Kahanist Phenomenon. Background. The Ideology of Kach. The Political Program. Ch. 10. Legal Background: The Foundations of the Law. The Declaration of Independence and Normative Considerations. Precedents. Ch. 11. Attempts to Restrict Kahane's Freedom of Election. The Negbi Decision of 1981. The CEC's Decisions of 1984. The Court's Decision in Neiman. Ch. 12. Curtailing Kahane's Freedom of Movement and Expression. Freedom of Movement. The Media's Ban on Kahane. Kahane v. Speaker of the Knesset -- Five Chapters. Ch. 13. Epilogue. The Decision of the CEC Regarding the PLP. The Disqualification of Kach. The Decision of the CEC Regarding Moledet -- Table of U.S. Cases -- Table of Israeli Cases. Miscellaneous Cases from Other Jurisdictions

Print version record

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews